


The Gift

by NoGoodTuna



Category: Black Clover - 田畠裕基 | Tabata Yuki
Genre: Friendship, M/M, Male Friendship, New Year's Fluff, Nostalgia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 15:06:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13274004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoGoodTuna/pseuds/NoGoodTuna
Summary: Asta has been in the Black Bulls for six months, yet has not had the opportunity to go to Hage. When Yami gives him the opportunity to visit, Asta accepts. However, panic sets in when he realizes he is visiting during the New Year Holiday. The holiday is a time of gift giving and thanksgiving in Hage, and to not present a gift is offensive. Asta suddenly decides to gift the first thing he comes across, however he soon runs into Yuno...~~~Happy New Year~~~





	The Gift

Asta stood still in front of Yami and Magna. He grew nervous as he listened to them talking and laughing. Magna was animated and loud. In the six months he’s known them, he’s realized that whenever he’s called in front of them, they were about to give him something ridiculous to do. He shivered at the thought of having to remove and replace all the mud and manure at one of the local pig farms again. Why a magic knight had to do this was something he could never figure out? Though more so, why would Yami and Magna accept such a messy and pointless task?

Asta was brought out of his thoughts as the two turned to him.

“So, pipsqueak,” Yami spoke first. “Have you talked to your folks back home yet?”

Asta spoke with hesitation. “No, Yami sir. I’ve sent letters and money here and there.”

“What?” Magna shouted. He moved closer to Asta. “You should’ve gone when you first got here, to let them know how you were and what you were doing!”

“There was no time,” Asta said. He almost wanted to add that it was because they kept giving him ridiculous tasks that he had no time for a break to go home.

Magne spoke sternly. “A real man makes time for their family, he doesn’t just leave it in writing. He sees them in person.” Magna added. “Don’t ever forget where you came from.

Before Asta could voice a protest Yami spoke.

“That’s why I’ve called you here. The new year is coming. Take the time to see your family.”

Asta looked dumbfounded. Was there a catch? Was captain Yami smoking something new? There had to be more to this, nothing was ever that simple. He didn’t know what to say.

Magna’s boisterous laughing and a sudden hit to Asta’s back caused him to suddenly cough. Asta smiled nervously once he regained his composure as he looked to them.

“I love this,” Magna said in between laughs. “ _Chibi_ sta is so shocked that he isn’t yelling for once.”

“I should do this more often,” Yami laughed too. “If I knew this would keep him quiet, I would have done this faster.”

\--

Later that evening realization hit Asta. He was finally going home! He would finally have a chance to personally tell everyone how well he was doing and how awesome and cool it was as a magic knight. Sure, there wasn’t anything major he had done just far, but he made it. He accomplished the unthinkable. He beat the naysayer’s expectations and proved that even someone who had no magic could be a magic knight. The thought of seeing everyone’s faces made him nearly drool in excitement and anticipation.

He stopped. The thought of everyone quickly made him realize a major problem. He was going back during the New Year. It was a period of tradition for them. The New Year was a time of thanksgiving and of gift giving. He dashed over a pile of clothes in the middle of the floor, grabbing the calendar on his desk. He dropped it and took a few steps backwards in panic. The New Year was approaching much sooner than he realized. Since he had to leave tomorrow for the trip home, he would have no time to get presents. He couldn’t just show up empty handed!

He could hear it now, the disappointment veiled as teasing from Nash, one of the spunkier and always honest kids, the tears and crying from many of the younger ones, the empty excuses from the priest and Sister. Asta shook his head getting those thoughts out of his head. It helped calm him down. He would think of something. The trip home was long on foot, he had plenty of time. He would not let them experience a sad New Year.

\--

Asta screamed frantically as he high tailed it along the oft travelled path through the thicket. Sweat trickled down his back and his forehead as he navigated through a path that ought to have been familiar to him, but was now foreign. The heat from the fire breathing boars chasing him, along with the sweltering heat from the surprisingly hot winter time sun kept him from focusing on navigating. There was no time to pause to think of where to turn, there was no time to wonder if he was even going in circles. All he knew was that he needed to get away from these boars as soon as possible. What should have been an easy task was impossible. One lone teen mage, or rather, teen defeating these abdominal beasts was an impossible task.

“No!” Asta shouted as he slapped himself on the face a few times. “These dumb boars won’t keep me from making it home!”

He turned around and stared at the beasts, facing them head on. They paused while huffing at him. Their nostrils flared sending out the smell of burning flesh and wood. They stomped, the ground rattled and shook. The trees vibrated heavily.

Asta gulped as he continued to face them. His knees wobbled briefly as he considered running, but he steeled himself as he thought of his goals and aspirations. To be the magic king was all that he wanted. To defeat these simple boars was a necessary step in ascending the ladder to success.  Asta screamed loudly as he reached to pull out a black book, his grimoire, from a holster on his pants.

Unfortunately, the moment he had his hands on it, the beasts roared and charged at him. Before he could even do anything, Asta saw his world turn upside down and right side up. He yelled as he saw the mix of greens and browns of the forest mix with the whites and blues of the sky. It was a dizzying experience as he flew and tumbled through the air. As he struggled to keep the contents of his emptied stomach down, he felt a heavy thud on his head. The world turned to darkness immediately.

\--

Asta felt himself bobbing up and down rhythmically. It felt relaxing, like he was floating smoothly on the wind, like a magic carpet ride through the skies. The way the air flowed around his dangling feet like the smooth way water in a calm spring glides across the foot, the way his hands lightly bounced across something that felt like a solid rock, the vibrations at each bounce felt massaging like the gentle pulsing from the ripples of a rock hitting the water, it felt magical. Asta felt a tickling at his nose, the smell of the winter jasmines mixed with pine, oak, and maple rushed into his nostrils. Though he gently moaned when he realized the hint of an all too familiar smell was mixed in with it.

“Yuno?” Asta said as he opened his eyes raising his head and realizing that his magic carpet ride was his childhood friend, Yuno, carrying him on his back. 

“You’re up,” Yuno said while walking effortlessly. The smaller teen was light.

 “How, when, what?” Asta could barely figure out what he wanted to say so he just said any and everything that came to his mind. Yuno remained silent, only waiting until Asta stopped talking, grew tired, and rested his head on his shoulder.

“You were going the wrong way.”

“I was going the right way,” Asta perked up and shouted in Yuno’s ear. “Well, until those dumb boars got in the way. They were going to be mincemeat, dinner for the church…” Asta considered telling him how they rammed him and sent him flying but he felt embarrassed admitting that. He couldn’t admit any weaknesses in front of Yuno.

“You mean these boars?” Yuno swiped his hand around. The air around him and Asta quickly shifted, moving swiftly, and causing their hair to ruffle. From the peripheral, freshly skinned boar ribs floated in the air around them. Asta salivated at the sight. He struggled to contain his drool.

“Those were mine, I was going to bring them to Sister and the others back home,” Asta pointed over Yuno’s shoulder.

Yuno only chuckled, and teased him. “Well they were mine, you’ll have to think of something else.”

“Unfair,” Asta grumbled.  

“You’ll think of something,” Yuno reassured him, however Asta felt the insincerity in his voice. How would he even procure something out here in the middle of nowhere. They were going to be his surprise to the struggling church, the place where he grew up. The looks of the other children, of the head priest, and the Sister giving him thanks and expressing glee for the bountiful meat, a rare commodity in their potato exclusive diet, was something he dreamed about. Now he was back to square one with a gift for everyone. Stupid Yuno, beating him at gift giving again. He turned and stuck his tongue out at him. Of course, he couldn’t see him, but it made him feel so good to do that.

“Hey,” Asta spoke once they reached the path to the town. Yuno nodded in acknowledgment.

“Have you ever wondered why the church is so poor?” Asta asked almost absentmindedly but with a touch of curiosity. For as long as he lived there, he always wondered, why didn’t the church ever receive any sizable sum of money? Surely someone out there would have looked at the church in pity and donated money to at least give the kids their own bedrooms. Or at the very least, given them money to eat more than mere potatoes every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, every day.

Yuno thought about it in silence. It was something he’d accepted without question. A town out in the back country of the kingdom, with barely the town status, was a rough place to live. The citizens were barely making ends meet.

Yuno spoke. “No, isn’t it how it’s always supposed to be?”

“Why’s it supposed to be like that?”

“Because of where we’re at, and who we are,” Yuno responded harshly. “You see how the rest of the world see’s us, especially those from the capital. Brats from the back country of the kingdom, Hage, a forgotten town. The only notable thing out here is this cursed skull of the demon of the past, a grim reminder of the malevolent, maliciousness, death, and destruction of the past. Yet even that, is fading from everyone’s memory.”

“Yuno,” Asta looked at him in pity. He never knew he felt that way about it.

Yuno’s usual calm antisocial demeanor was replaced with sincere feelings of anger. “The past is forgotten, Hage is forgotten, the church and orphanage is forgotten, and like we and all the other orphans, we are forgotten even by our parent’s whom we never knew. It’s the harsh reality of the world we live in.”

“We have not been forgotten,” Asta said, his blood boiling. “Don’t you dare say that again. There are others like us, other people striving to break through the chains that bind them to living the forgettable life you describe. Even if the world threatens to forget us, we have…. We have each other, we can’t forget about each other no matter what!” Asta’s arms gently tightened around Yuno’s shoulders, almost like a hug from behind.

Yuno grunted while warming up to Asta’s arms. He wordlessly trudged on. The massive in the distanced towered beyond the village, the place Asta and Yuno spent the past twelve years of their lives. He couldn’t tell if the skull was supposed to be a monument meant for remembrance, or a forbidden omen, an object you weren’t supposed to talk about in fear that it would someday reanimate and wipe out the entire country as it did ages ago. Though what used to instill fear in the townspeople, was now just another object in the background, like a mountain one always sees when they grow up in a valley. It’s just there.

“Yuno, remember you used to cry in my arms every night because of that skull?” Asta piped up.

Silence. Yuno turned his face away from Asta’s. Asta chuckled and placed his head on Yuno’s other shoulder. Yuno turned his head avoiding him again.

Asta poked him in the cheek. “You did, I still remember it like it was yesterday. You would cry until I hugged you tightly so that you couldn’t see it from the window.”

Yuno grabbed one of Asta’s toes and pulled it until he yelped.

“Stop it,” Asta said while laughing. “See, you’re smiling too. You do remember.”

Yuno shook his head disrupting the smooth ride and causing Asta to yell.

Yuno mumbled hoping Asta wouldn’t hear him. “I wasn’t scared, I just wanted to be close to you. I still do.”

“What was that?” Asta asked once they were closer to the skull.

Yuno gave no response.

“Yuno,” Asta said as he ran his hand through Yuno’s hair. He twirled a finger around a few strands as he continued to speak. “You said you weren’t scared of it. Why was that?”

Yuno sighed as he realized Asta wouldn’t leave him alone. He could be persistent. He almost regretted carrying him. “You kept saying you would be magic king and do amazing things. You’d slay demons in a single blow and you’d protect the weak, your friends, and your family.”

“Why didn’t you tell me,” Asta shouted.

Yuno remained tight lipped.

Asta laughed. “Figures.”

\--

They lay next to each other that night in the orphanage. The other kids were cleaning up after the bountiful potatoes and boar dishes that were prepared. True to expectations, the kids were excited to finally have some meat, for them it was the first time that year they had any.

“You, handsome jerk, everyone was all over you for the meat,” Asta spoke softly as he stared out the familiar window. Sleeping on the floor in the same room brought on a rush of nostalgia that he missed. The cold yet comfortable blanket they slept on in the single bedroom, the window with the moonlight shining in the view of the skull in full view, and even the playful teasing of Yuno, it was so familiar and something he missed.

Yuno extended a hand and ruffled Asta’s hair. He smiled softly at him. “They were all over you. You becoming a magic knight was a greater gift than meat or toys or other gifts.” He almost wanted to go into more details, like how Nash was staring in amazement at Asta the whole night, or how everyone was surprisingly spending all their time bombarding Asta with questions, not that Yuno complained, the less he had to speak the better.

“Really,” Asta looked at him and squinted. “Are you just saying that to make me feel better?”

Yuno didn’t say anything as he turned and rolled away from him.

“Yuno!” Asta attempted to whisper but it came out loudly. “Answer me. Explain. Is this why you took credit for the meat? Is this why you carried me, to keep me from running through the forest to get other food? Yuno!”

He easily ignored Asta’s complaints. Asta eventually calmed down and seemed to snooze softly. When Yuno was sure he had drifted off to sleep, he scooted over closer to him, and wrapped his arm gently around him, casually resting his head against his chest. He didn’t want to admit it, but the sight of the skull made him shiver. It was like it gave a bad aura whenever he consciously acknowledged its presence. It was only whenever he was physically touching Asta that the aura seemed to dissipate, as if Asta’s earnest determination and pure heartedness wrapped Yuno in a cloak of protection.

“So,” Asta spoke softly. “You’re still scared.”

Yuno tensed, clutched Asta’s shirt, and buried his face in it. He couldn’t believe Asta was conscious.

“Don’t worry,” Asta chuckled. He didn’t realize Yuno could still be a baby at times. The skull wasn’t going to do anything to anyone.

Yuno didn’t respond.

“Doesn’t this bring back memories,” Asta spoke. Yuno’s grip on his shirt lightened. “You’d wake me up when you’d clutch me sometimes all teary eyed. You’d start sniffling until I told you all the awesome things I would do as wizard king and you’d get all big eyed and impressed.”

“A little,” Yuno pulled himself slightly away from Asta but kept his eyes shut. His mind flashed back to the memories of the comfort he’d feel whenever Asta made larger than life claims that felt so believable, of the thoughts of following him and seeing how strong he could be someday. He was his idol and though they were older now, he still saw Asta as his hero. He was someone he strived to be.  Though, of course, he needed to get over this thing with the skull, but it was so hard. Running away to the capital six months ago was only a bandage to the true problem.

“How about this,” Asta chimed in, his voice came in crystal clear and pulled Yuno out of his thoughts. “When I make it big someday, I’ll come back and destroy that monument and everything it stands for. That’ll make it all better for you, won’t it?”

“That will never happen,” Yuno whispered.

“Never say never. Remember when they said we would never amount to anything?” Asta spoke with conviction. “If we, these country bumpkins, could get into the capital’s royal magic squad, then anything’s possible.”

Yuno remained silent. Admiration for Asta quickly made him forget his fear. It was like he was younger again. All he could do was open his eyes and stare upwards at him wide-eyed and surprised at the promises Asta said. It was like nothing would deter him from reaching his goal, even if it was unreasonable, unrealistic, infeasible, Asta believed, without a shadow of a doubt, that he could do anything he set his mind on. Yuno wished that he could toss out all the reservations, logic, planning, everything that made him apprehensive and cautious about any situation out the window, so that he too could be just like him. He wanted to believe. No, he knew he believed.

“As,” Yuno started speaking, but Asta was already gently snoring the night away. It seemed more time had passed than Yuno realized. He returned to clutching Asta’s shirt, smiling gently and softly to himself and letting himself enjoy this closeness just one more time. It would be a good night indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year. 
> 
> The skull in Hage, always so prevalent, seemed like an environmental setpiece that would affect everyone that lives there. No way would anyone who was scared be able to sleep at night alone with that skull visible no matter where anyone lived in the town. I had a head canon that Yuno would be the type of kid that would have been fearful over it. 
> 
> Thanks for reading.


End file.
